Page 77 of Just (Fake) Married
“Well, what?” she asked, leaning against the arm of the couch. The fire flickered over her features, turning her skin togold. The way she crossed her arms made the most of her breasts and the memory of them in my hands, my mouth, rolled through me like a fire ball.
Right. What was I saying?
“Well, one year my brother Eli got a bb gun and that was an actual Bloody Christmas,” I said.
She shifted on the arm of the couch, letting one leg swing. Not committing to staying, but not leaving either. “Our house growing up was just non-stop talking. When we’re all together we just talk over each other and constantly interrupt, we’re telling stories and asking questions.”
“Sounds nice,” I said.
“I guess,” she said after a second. “I mean, I love them. But they never shut up.”
“Well, I’m glad this house can be a quiet place for you,” I said.
“So weird, right?” she said. “This house being a refuge for a Calloway. I’m sure our forefathers are rolling in their graves.”
“You know, I never agreed with my dad, about anything, really, but what he said in his will was right, it’s time for this feud to be over.”
She nodded, her eyes glancing at me and then back at the fire.
“And,” I continued, totally pushing my luck. “It took me a second to come around, but…I’m glad it’s us that’s ending it.”
“You don’t mean that,” she said with a laugh. “You weren’t going to spend the night here, much less the next three months being fake married to a Calloway.”
“I’m glad the universe intervened to make me stay.”
“About what you said earlier…I have been avoiding you,” she confessed. “What happened on our wedding night…Well, we got a little carried away. And I just don’t think doing that-”
“Having orgasms,” I supplied.
She blushed, even in the firelight I could tell that. “I think sex, much like kissing, would complicate things. Don’t you?”
Truthfully, yes.
I’d had a run-in with Harmony Calloway back in high school that had obviously hurt her feelings. My purpose now was to secure the future of this town and leave. If we added casual sex, then I might hurt her feelings again and that was the last thing I wanted to do.
Especially because I was starting to really like her.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay?”
“I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t want you, Harmony. And if you’re being honest, I think that attraction goes both ways. But I’ll respect your boundaries. Out there,” I said, pointing to the window. “We’re a couple in love. In here, we’re just…”
“Friends?”
The word felt wrong, despite having just admitted that I really liked Harmony. Who she was as a daughter, a sister and neighbor. It didn’t feel like it fit us.
“Partners,” I said instead.
EIGHTEEN
ETHAN
When my eyespopped open this morning, I remembered I’d forgotten to turn on the auto timer on the coffee machine. Quickly, I pulled on sweatpants and ran downstairs to make coffee.
Mrs. Walker had been needed at Carter’s house for kid duty, so we were on our own for breakfast and I didn’t want to be responsible for Harmony having to run out of the house again without her caffeine.
I could hear the commotion of the goose and dog as they all rushed down the stairs like they were late for something once again, just as the coffee pot gurgled and gasped and the pot was full.
